Professors

Pedro Quintana-Ascencio, Professor

Research Area(s): Interactive effects of disturbance and spatial structure on plant community and population dynamics, especially for several rare plant species endemic to the Lake Wales Ridge in central Florida.
I am a member of the science committee for the COMPADRE & COMADRE database project to create an open-access database of matrix population models for both animals and plants from all over the world to facilitate its usage for scientific and teaching purposes.

Graduate Students

Danny Gooding, PhD

Research: Danny studies spatial patterns of coral reef health off the southeast Florida coast, with the goal to determine drivers of patterns, Hopefully, results will help understand the decline of Florida’s coral reefs and provide a guide for conservation efforts.

Research: For her MS, Hannah modeled the potential global range of the Nile monitor and its potential food web effects. She is now aiming to work on multi-species distributions relative to land use and conservation corridors.

Research:My research examines how disturbance and productivity influence biodiversity in freshwater communities of plants and invertebrates. With this project, I hope to provide a thorough experimental evaluation of the dynamic equilibrium model of biodiversity.